


trouble on my left, trouble on my right

by greatkateweathermachine



Category: The Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Roleswap AU!, i'm really excited to write this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greatkateweathermachine/pseuds/greatkateweathermachine
Summary: The guy’s eyes flick over to him, and Michael feels his face heat up with embarrassment as he averts his gaze, looking down instead. But before long he finds himself glancing up again, trying to get another glimpse of him.This time, when Michael looks at him, the guy is already staring back. His eyes are a light blue that almost seems to glitter in the firelight surrounding them. Standing there looking at him, it feels like everything else is muffled and out of focus, like hearing people talk when you dive underwater at the pool. He can hear Sam try to say something to him, but can’t divert his focus to processing what it was.It’s like time has come to a standstill, and he thinks that he could spend the rest of his life staring at this guy, who is still moving with the music as he holds eye contact with Michael, not quite dancing but not standing still either.
Relationships: David & Star (Lost Boys), David/Michael Emerson (Lost Boys), Michael Emerson & Sam Emerson
Comments: 16
Kudos: 33





	1. everywhere i look, i catch a glimpse of you

It’s the Emersons’ first night in Santa Carla, and their mom had encouraged them to explore the boardwalk, the main attraction of the tourist town. Honestly, Michael doesn’t see the appeal. Maybe it’s lingering homesickness over their sudden move, but he really can’t see why anyone would want to live here. 

Still, his mom had insisted that they go out, which is what led them here, to a crowded concert venue where the summer heat was amplified by the fires burning and hoards of people around them. Michael turns to his brother, hoping that Sam is having fun even if he’s painfully bored.

As they watch the performance on stage, Sam gives him an incredulous smile, nodding towards two guys head banging near the front of the crowd. Michael is about to make a comment when something in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

When he turns around he sees the most beautiful guy he’s ever seen weaving his way through the crowd, followed by two kids who couldn’t be older than ten. The guy takes one of the kid’s hands, helping her up to a small platform so they can see the show better.

Craning his neck so he isn’t even looking at the stage anymore, Michael’s attention is taken up exclusively by this guy, who seems to stand out from the crowd on top of the platform, the people around him giving him and the kids space. He has bleach blonde hair that’s so light it’s almost white, and Michael can’t stop watching as he runs a hand through it, moving in time with the music. One of the kids he’s with tugs on the sleeve of his jacket, which is black and oversized with gold tassels and other baubles sewn to the sleeves.

When he notices that Michael isn’t watching the performance anymore, Sam turns around, trying to see what he’s looking at. He can hear his brother groan as he figures out what has him preoccupied. Sam grabs him by the jaw and tries to force him to look back at the show, but gives up after a few seconds when Michael still doesn’t move.

The guy’s eyes flick over to him, and Michael feels his face heat up with embarrassment as he averts his gaze, looking down instead. But before long he finds himself glancing up again, trying to get another glimpse of him.

This time, when Michael looks at him, the guy is already staring back. His eyes are a light blue that almost seems to glitter in the firelight surrounding them. Standing there looking at him, it feels like everything else is muffled and out of focus, like hearing people talk when you dive underwater at the pool. He can hear Sam try to say something to him, but can’t divert his focus to processing what it was.

It’s like time has come to a standstill, and he thinks that he could spend the rest of his life staring at this guy, who is still moving with the music as he holds eye contact with Michael, not quite dancing but not standing still either.

Giving him a crooked smile, Michael hopes that he’ll smile back. He’s positive that this guy must have the best smile in the world. Instead, the guy turns around so Michael can only see his back, and holds out his hands for the kids to take before disappearing into the crowd as he leaves with them.

Michael feels a sting of panic rise up in his chest. He tugs Sam away from the concert as he scans the crowds, trying to catch a glimpse of bleach blonde hair.

“What the hell, Mike?” Sam yells as he’s pulled towards the boardwalk. Michael can’t pay attention to him right now though, too focused on trying to find this guy before he vanishes forever. He doesn’t know why, but it’s like every bone in his body is telling him not to let that happen.

When they get to a less populated area, he’s able to see the guy in front of a store ahead of them. He’s waiting for the kids to catch up with him, grinning and putting an arm around one of them when they do. Michael was right, he  _ does _ have the best smile in the world.

Not even having to think about it, he starts to follow the guy as he walks further away. Sam shakes off the grip Michael had on his arm, not wanting to be tugged along again.

“So where are we going?” he says, trying to keep up with Michael’s long strides.

“Nowhere.” Michael mumbles, barely audible over the loud music playing as he tries to keep the guy in his line of sight, speeding up a little so he doesn’t lose him.

“Then what’s the rush?” Sam sounds annoyed, and while a part of him feels bad at making him go along with this, a bigger part of him  _ needs _ to see this guy again.

When Michael doesn’t respond, Sam keeps talking, teasing him as usual. “You’re chasing that guy aren’t ya? C’mon, admit it, you’re chasing him. I’m at the mercy of your sex glands here, bud.”

He glances away from the guy for a second, coming to a stop and holding his arm out so his brother will stop too. “Sam, don’t you have anything better to do than follow me around all night?”

Sam doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to what he said, looking up at the sign on the store they had stopped in front of.

“Yeah.” he says, sounding the happiest Michael’s heard him since they left Phoenix, “Actually I do.”

Taking this as an excuse to leave, Michael tries to find the guy again in the throngs of people around them. He looks back once, figuring he should at least know where Sam is, and sees that the store he was so excited about is a comic place. 

_ Good.  _ He thinks as he moves on. Sam has always loved comics, and maybe he’ll be able to find something of interest in their new hometown.

Without anyone else to worry about, or to tease him about what he’s deciding to spend his time doing, Michael is able to focus solely on the guy, who’s still making his way down the boardwalk at a leisurely pace. 

He’s easy to spot, since the people who push at Michael and bump into him as they walk past seem to give him a fair amount of space. Something tells Michael that he should keep his distance as well.

As he moves around people, he’s able to think for the first time since he first saw the guy at the concert. Michael has never felt this strongly about anyone before, never felt this bone deep need to be around them the way he does with this guy. There’s something compelling about him, something that reels Michael in and promises that it won’t let him go.

Michael doesn’t even know what he wants, or what he’ll do when he finally catches up to him. He can only pay attention to the guy ahead of him, and makes sure that he keeps him in his line of sight. The music and sounds of people talking around him all fade to a dull hum.

Before he knows it, he’s at the entrance to the boardwalk. The guy turns right as he walks out, and Michael follows him.

He stops in his tracks as he sees where he had gone, towards a group of people lounging on bikes right outside the entrance. There’s four of them, three guys and a girl. They have a sense of danger around them, one that tells Michael to hold back even as the guy walks right up to them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sam appear next to him, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket a bit as they both watch.

Two of the taller guys help the kids that Michael has seen before onto the back of their bikes, while the guy makes his way over to the girl. She has a long black skirt that’s gathered around her waist from where she sits on her bike, and a big coat to match, with her eyes lined in black. Holding a hand out, she helps the guy onto the bike behind her. It’s practiced, like they’ve done this a thousand times before, and when he gets on the guy wraps his arms around her waist and puts his head on her shoulder.

Michael freezes as they both turn to look at him, feeling like he caught doing something he shouldn’t. After a moment, the girl smirks and revs up her bike, and one of the other guys signals to all of them that it’s time to go.

Sam laughs from where he’s standing next to them, before patting him on the arm and moving to leave. “He stiffed ya, let’s go.”

Watching as the group leaves, Michael waits as they drive off one by one, with the girl going last. As they go, the guy turns around from his place on the back of her bike to look at him. 

They make eye contact, and Michael holds his gaze for as long as he can, which feels like it goes on forever and is far too short at the same time.

Once all of them have driven off, so far that they aren’t even pinpricks against the skyline anymore, Michael stops staring, deciding that it’s time he heads home. He finds Sam waiting for him a couple feet away, and walks up to him, not stopping even as Sam tries to talk to him.

“The comic place was great! There were these two weird guys there, but they gave me this comic for free which was pretty cool of them. I don’t really like horror comics, but it’s not like I have anything else to do here besides help Mom move boxes.” 

Michael let’s Sam talk about what he got up to, mind still someplace else. After a few minutes with no response though, Sam changes topics.

“So what happened with that guy? Did you talk to him? Or were you too much of a wimp?” he says, jogging to keep up with Michael’s brisk pace

“It doesn’t matter, Sammy.” Michael says, keeping his head down so Sam doesn’t see the embarrassment clear on his face. “You saw it yourself, he has a girlfriend.”

He stops and turns back when he notices that Sam isn’t with him anymore, instead standing further back with an expression of utter bafflement. When he notices Michael staring at him, he narrows his eyes at him in suspicion.

“Are you being serious?” Sam sounds like he thinks that Michael is hiding something, or trying to prank him.

He sighs, not quite knowing how to respond. “Don’t make fun of me, you know I am.”

Sam looks at him a moment longer, before shaking his head in disbelief. “C’mon, let’s go find Mom.”

Letting him walk ahead, Michael looks back at the boardwalk behind them. He guesses that there are worse places to have moved to. Maybe, if he comes back tomorrow night, he’ll be able to see that guy again. It’s not likely, but he’s willing to take his chances.

There might be at least one reason to live in Santa Carla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the title and chapter names come from "trouble" by cage the elephant
> 
> my tumblr is wearewyldstallyns
> 
> i'm really excited to write this! it's my first multichap that hasn't been a joke, so it'll be an interesting experience.


	2. my sweet love won't you pull me through

Michael makes his way through the crowded boardwalk, occasionally glancing around to see if he can catch a glimpse of bleach blonde hair.

He’s been in Santa Carla for three days, and it’s been two nights since he last saw the guy at the concert. Since then, he’s been coming here and trying to find him again, but with no luck so far. It’s starting to look like a hopeless cause.

Sam had left to go see his friends as soon as they got there, leaving Michael on his own. He’s happy that his brother is settling in and has found people to hang out with, but without him there to talk to he’s painfully bored.

Pushing past a group of people, he notices a stand selling jackets. Briefly, his mind goes back to the other night, when the guy from the concert had looked at him before leaving with his friends. Some of them were wearing jackets like these.

Shaking the memory out of his head, Michael tries to convince himself to forget about this and move on. But after a few seconds of contemplation he walks towards the stand and starts browsing the merchandise, telling himself that he’s only browsing and he won’t actually buy anything. And even if he does, it makes sense to want to try out a new style in a new town. It has nothing to do with his memories of the other night.

A brown leather jacket towards the back of the rack catches his eye, and he holds it up to get a better look at it. This isn’t anything close to the type of clothes he usually wears, and he’s not even sure if it’ll look good on him, but he takes it off the hanger and shrugs it on anyways. Turning towards the mirror propped up next to the stand, he stares at his reflection, and smiles a little when he sees himself. Maybe he’s biased, but he thinks he’s making this work.

Fishing his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans, Michael takes out some cash and pays for the jacket. He’s about to leave, maybe go try and find Sam, but he doesn’t get far before he sees a booth for ear piercings out of the corner of his eye. 

Again, he thinks about the other night, and watching the guy from the concert get on the back of that girl’s bike. When she pushed her hair out of the way, he could see multiple piercings in her left ear. Without thinking about it, he makes his way over to the booth.

Plenty of people have piercings these days, Michael tells himself as he stands a few feet away, eyeing the prices. Even Sam has one, a little stud that he’d given himself last October when they were the only ones home and he thought he could get away with it. It had ended with him bleeding all over the sink in the bathroom, and Michael had to help him clean it up before their mom got back.

Suddenly, he feels a presence behind him and warm breath against his cheek.

“It’s a rip off, you know.”

He whirls around, just in time to see the guy from the concert turn his back to him and start to walk away. Michael feels a sharp spike of hope in his chest and follows after him, unwilling to let him disappear into the crowds.

The guy keeps walking at his leisurely pace as Michael jogs up beside him. He doesn’t look at him, even as he keeps talking.

“If you want your ear pierced my friend can do it.”

Stumbling over his words, Michael tries to think of something to say. “What’s your name?”

The guy fidgets with his hands as they keep walking.

“David.”

Michael snorts out a laugh. “Your parents too, huh?”

“What do you mean?” David says as he turns to look at him, voice high and defensive.

Caught off guard by his sudden change in tone, Michael’s quick to explain himself. “Biblical names. My dad was a hardcore Christian and my mom’s an ex hippie, it’s a miracle I got named something normal.”

He clears his throat, and makes an attempt to move the conversation forward. “But David’s great, I like David.”

The tension leaves David’s shoulders.  __ “Me too.”

“I’m Michael.” he says, realizing he hadn’t introduced himself.

Laughing, David repeats what he had just said. “Michael. Michael’s great, I like Michael.”

Seeing his bike not far ahead, Michael starts to walk in that direction.

“So, you want to get something to eat?” he asks, hoping that it isn’t too forward.

David shivers and rubs his arm even in the summer heat. “Sure.”

Exhaling a breath at the relief of not being rejected, Michael moves to get on his bike, but before he can the two of them are surrounded by the people he saw David with the other night, their bikes blocking him from leaving.

The girl leans over the handlebars of her bike, and he freezes when she looks at him before her attention turns away.

“Where ya going, David?”

“For a ride.” David says defensively as he folds his arms over his chest. “This is Michael.”

This time when she stares at him, Michael can see something close to recognition in her eyes. Before he can focus too long on it, she looks away.

He turns to David, thinking that he might be able to convince him to leave. “C’mon, let’s go.”

For a second , it seems like they’re going to get out of there, but then the girl speaks again.

“David.” She says, like she’s trying to remind him of something, although Michael can’t even begin to guess what.

Looking almost pained, David turns to face her, his eyes flicking up to meet hers. Something passes between them that Michael can’t figure out, but after a few moments David sighs, refusing to look up from the ground as he moves to get on the back of her bike.

The girl stares at Michael as she holds her hand out to help David get on behind her, and he squirms under her unblinking gaze. Somewhere to his right, he can hear one of the guys that came with her laugh.

“Do you know where Hudson’s Bluff is, overlooking the point?” She says once David is seated behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist.

Michael scoffs. “I can’t beat your bike.”

She smirks, her eyes lighting up at his response. “You don’t have to beat me, Michael. You just have to try and keep up.”

Without warning, they leave their formation around him and start driving down the boardwalk towards the beach. Michael scrambles to keep up with them, but ends up lagging behind anyways.

On the beach, they weave around people there having parties, and he can hear them laughing and yelling at each other ahead of him. He squints, trying to keep the sand they’re kicking up from getting into his face, as they pass under the pier and into the woods.

Michael can barely see the bikes in front of him through the fog out here, and the wind is so harsh and cold that every intake of breath almost hurts. Before they completely vanish from his sight, he sees David turn around and look at him. 

The fog seems all consuming, and Michael is pretty sure that they’re at the bluff now. He pushes his bike as far as he’s able to, driving past the others until he’s side by side with the girl.

She turns and grins at him in a way that seems dangerous, yelling so he can hear her above the sound of the wind in his ears. “C’mon, Michael!”

At some point they’re going to reach the end of the cliff, but he can't think about that right now when all he’s focused on is beating her. The fog is so thick he can only see ten feet in front of him, but the girl isn’t slowing down so he doesn’t either.

Suddenly, he sees the bluff drop off in front of him, and he veers hard to the right so he doesn’t drive straight off of it. His bike skids to a stop with the front wheel hanging over the cliff, tossing him to the ground in the process.When he looks down, he can see the rough ocean waves hundreds of feet below. Around him, the others stop and get off their bikes.

Not thinking, Michael surges forward with his fist clenched. He thinks he hears David shout something, but it’s like every emotion he has except anger has been muffled. The girl jerks back, and he doesn’t even realize he punched her until he feels her friends grabbing at his arms, trying to hold him back.

“No, just you.” he says as he shakes them off, “Just you.”

The girl pulls her hand away from her face, the wind whipping her hair back. When she looks at him, it’s more with amusement than the rage he’d been expecting. Laughing, she stares and smirks, just like earlier at the boardwalk.

“How far are you willing to go, Michael?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the title and chapter names come from "trouble" by cage the elephant
> 
> my tumblr is wearewyldstallyns
> 
> please comment if you liked this chapter! it means a lot to me to see feedback


	3. casting shadows, the sun was pushing through

Stumbling down the rocky ground, Michael follows David’s friends into the entrance of a large cave. Ahead of him he can see two of the guys lighting fires in barrels to illuminate the space, while the other one helps the two kids that Michael had seen at the concert the other night jump down to the floor. They must have been riding with David’s friends, but he didn’t notice when the only thing he could focus on was beating all of the others at the race.

The girl walks through the cave before abruptly turning around and looking at him, smiling in a way that seems more condescending than genuine. “Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce everyone.”

Her eyes focus on something behind him. “You already know David.”

Turning his head, Michael sees David standing close to the wall with one arm wrapped around himself and the other reached out so one of the kids can hold his hand, uncomfortable with the attention being drawn to him. He glares at the girl and she grins back at him.

Clearing her throat so that Michael focuses back on her, she gestures to the three other guys in various places around the cave. “Dwayne. Marko. Paul.”

She walks around the destroyed fountain in the middle of the space, hopping up onto the ledge, making her about a foot taller than him.

“And I’m Star.”

It takes Michael a second to realize she’s waiting for him to say something. His mind goes back to earlier that night, talking to David on the boardwalk before everyone else showed up.

“Star’s a cool name. Uh, my parents almost named me Moonbeam or something. They’re ex hippies too.” he smiles awkwardly, and continues when Star stares at him with a blank face. “But like I said, Star is good. You’re lucky your parents actually named you something cool instead of whatever I would’ve ended up with.”

Coughing, Michael stops his rambling when he realizes that Star is glaring at him now.

“My  _ parents _ ,” she says, spitting out the word with disdain, “didn’t name me this. I did.”

Before he can say anything else, Star jumps down from the fountain and strides over to a beat up leather arm chair, her skirt flying around her as she flops down into it.

Michael starts to walk over, but is stopped by a tug on his hand. He turns around to see David staring at him.

“I don’t think you should bother her right now.” David says, looking over Michael’s shoulder at Star, “Why don’t we go outside?”

Nodding enthusiastically, Michael follows David out of the entrance of the cave and out to the beach. It’s dark, and the only sound is the crash of the waves. He waits for David to say something, but after a few minutes of silence looks over to find him staring out towards the ocean, his expression unreadable.

The waves are loud, and Michael has to clear his throat a few times before David can hear him, blinking a few times like he forgot where he was before turning to look at Michael.

Michael moves to stand a little closer to him so he doesn’t have to yell over the sounds of the ocean. He knows he shouldn’t ask about Star, no matter how much he wants to. Instead he decides to ask the other question that had been on his mind since they’d got there.

“So who are those two kids? You guys don’t seem like the type to pick up babysitting gigs.”

David laughs a little, folding his arms over his chest. “Star and Dwayne found Laddie a few months ago. He didn’t have anywhere else to go, so now he’s with us.”

Ignoring the implication that two of David’s friends might have kidnapped this kid, Michael moves on to what he’s really wanted to ask.

“What about the other one?”

“Grace?” David says, turning his head to face him, “She’s my sister.”

While that answers some of Michael’s questions, it also brought up a lot more. He wants to ask where their parents are, but he feels like that wouldn’t be well received. Instead, he waits for David to continue, but after a few moments it seems like that’s not going to happen.

“You know, I have a younger sibling too.” Michael says, trying to get them talking again. “My brother, Sam.”

David tenses, and glances up from where he’d been staring at the ground to look Michael in the eye. It seems like he’s going to say something, but is cut off when Marko shouts at them from the cave’s entrance.

“Hope you guys are hungry!” he yells as the two of them turn around to look at him, “Star’s sending me to get food.”

They both watch as he walks to his bike, revving it a few times and laughing before driving off. As Marko disappears into the woods, he looks back and throws a hand up in an attempt at a wave. Next to Michael, David gives a short wave back.

For the first time, Michael realizes how odd it is that David is hanging around these people. He’s not trying to assume something about someone he barely knows, but it doesn’t seem like he likes them very much. Michael thinks back to the boardwalk, and how David had tensed as soon as Star spoke to him.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of David's voice.

“They’re better once you get to know them.”

“Huh?” Michael says, hearing what he had said but not processing it.

David looks back to the cave’s entrance.

“My friends. I know that they seem like assholes but they just-” he cuts off, trying to think of the exact wording he wants to use. “They just get like this around people they don’t know. It’s nothing with you personally.”

Michael nods, not quite believing what he’s saying. 

Kicking up some of the sand at their feet, David moves on, apparently wanting to talk now. “You just moved here?”

“Yeah, a few days ago.” Michael finds himself falling into the new, more casual conversation with ease.

“How do you like Santa Carla?” David asks, the tension he was carrying with him only a few minutes ago gone.

Puffing a breath out, Michael thinks about how to respond. “It’s… a lot.”

Covering his mouth with his hand, David laughs, which brings a smile to Michael’s face and makes him keep speaking.

After that, it’s easy to get into a rhythm while they talk. Michael doesn’t even realize how long it’s been until he sees Marko come back, now with two bags of take out.

Drifting off in the middle of a sentence, David watches along with Michael as Marko walks into the depths of the cave, disappearing from sight.

Clearing his throat and making Michael focus back on him, David speaks with the reserved and somewhat melancholy tone he’s had most of the night.

“We should probably get back, they’ll be expecting us.”

Michael shoves his hands in the pockets of his jacket and falls in step alongside David as they walk away from the beach.

As soon as they get back in the cave, David immediately leaves his side, hovering in the dark behind Star’s chair.

Cautiously, Michael walks forward and sits down on a ledge in front of her. All of David’s friends are here, sitting or standing around a table covered in Chinese food boxes and assorted clutter.

Star looks at him from where she’s sitting, stabbing at her food with a fork. She leans forward and offers the box to him.

When he doesn’t take it she scoffs. “What? You don’t like rice?”

“I’m not hungry.” Michael says as he tries to avoid making eye contact with her.

“You know, Michael, it’s very rude for a guest to refuse a meal from their host.” Star raises her eyebrow, still holding out the box.

Rolling his eyes, Michael accepts it, getting a forkful of rice and trying to ignore the growing smile on Star’s face.

The second he puts the rice in his mouth, Star speaks. “How are those maggots?”

“What?”

“Maggots.” Star says, like this is something he should already know. “You’re eating maggots, Michael. How do they taste?”

He breathes out a laugh, looking down out the box in his hand, only to throw it on the ground and spit the food out of his mouth when he sees that instead of rice, the contents have been replaced with thousands of live, squirming maggots.

The sound of Star and the others’ laughter echoes off the cave walls. Glancing down at the dropped box, the maggots Michael had seen only a few moments ago have turned back into rice. 

Star clears her throat and waits for him to look back at her before speaking, something close to sympathy on her face, although it seems forced. “Hey, no hard feelings, right?”

Before he can even respond, she grabs another open box off of the table, holding it out and waiting for him to take it.

“Here, try some noodles.”

Warily, Michael looks in the box without taking it, and finds that instead of noodles, worms are slithering around the chopsticks stuck inside.

“It’s worms.” 

“What do you mean it’s worms?” Star says a little too happily, grabbing onto the chopsticks.

Realizing what she’s about to do, Michael feels panic and disgust shoot up in his chest, and he reaches out and grabs the box moments after she takes a bite. When he looks inside, the worms are gone.

“They’re only noodles, Michael.”

Star laughs along with her friends until David reaches out from behind her to grab her shoulder, making her face him. They stare at each other for a moment before Star shakes his hand off her shoulder. The laughter dies down as she turns to Dwayne next to her and whispers something too quietly for Michael to hear.

Dwayne disappears into the depths of the cave, coming back with a clear bottle, seemingly filled with wine. While Star stands up from her chair, David moves out from behind it to stand next to Michael. Noticing the changed atmosphere, Michael is quick to stand as Star takes the bottle from Dwayne and holds it out to him.

Feeling the pressure of everyone’s eyes on him, Michael takes the bottle from her and pulls the cork out. He glances up, expecting to see the restrained glee that he’d seen on Star’s face when she’d tricked him before, but only finds resignation and anger.

Next to Michael, David grabs onto his wrist, making him divert his attention away from Star.

“You don’t have to drink it.” David says, voice somewhat strained. “It’s blood, Michael.”

Mind made up, Michael turns to him and smirks. There’s no way that he’s going to fall for this again. “Yeah, blood. Sure.”

He brings the bottle up to his lips, drinking as much as he can before he has to stop to breathe. Around him, Star’s friends yell and cheer, and when he looks at her again even she’s clapping.

Walking over to take the bottle back, Star catches his eye and speaks so quietly he’s sure that no one else can hear her.

“You did great, Michael.”

Suddenly, everything seems to shift, making it hard to process all that’s happening. He can hear someone turn on music, while someone else shakes his shoulders and laughs in his ear. Star isn’t in front of him anymore, seemingly having walked across the room in what may have been a few seconds or twenty minutes. 

The last thing Michael registers before everything becomes impossible to process is David staring at him from across the cave, a pained expression on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, the title and chapter name come from "trouble" by cage the elephant
> 
> my bnt/tlb tumblr is wearewyldstallyns
> 
> ty to everyone who's left comments! it means a lot to see that people like this fic


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